Before you see a theatrical movie, there are the trailers and previews shown advertising future movies. Sometimes these commercials help give you an idea of what a movie is about, sometimes they are marketed wrong. I'm going to write about the previews that I saw this weekend, those that I remember at least.

Moulin Rouge. Although already out in very limited release, I still saw this trailer two or three times. At least now I think there's a plot to the movie. (Now just about every movie has a plot, but sometimes if I only know the concept I can't even figure out what the plot will be so the movie doesn't interest me.) Nicole Kidman is Sateen, some sort of courtesan in the Moulin Rouge. She falls in love with Ewan McGregor's character (and vice versa), but a powerful man wants to buy her services and sign her to a long term contract. Does money win out over love? And what's up with all the song and dance and the weird, almost surreal camera work.

Evolution. Due out in the beginning of June, this is a comedy/spoof of scifi invasion movies such as Men in Black. David Duchovny and Orlando Jones play government agents, maybe. Well, at least some sort of alien specialists. Looks like a couple of X-Files jokes playing off of Duchovny, Julianne Moore in a funny version of her Hannibal role. I think I saw Dan Akroyd there too. Doesn't look all that good, but I'm not into comedies.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Boy, talk about a trailer that showed me nothing about the plot or concept of the movie. And the movie is coming out in June. A Disney cartoon. Frankly, Disney cartoons are not what they used to be. Watch Snow White then watch Aladdin. Sure, Aladdin was wildly popular, but is the art any better than Snow White, is the movie as timeless? Not in my opinion. Disney has gone from trying to make classic family movies to popular family movies. Since the preview showed me nothing, who knows about this movie.

Tomb Raider. You know, I didn't see any previews for Tomb Raider, out of the about 20 I saw (some of them a couple of times to be sure). I'm starting to worry if this is going to be a good movie or not.

Cats and Dogs. The more times I see this preview the worse I think the movie will be. A fun premise, the ageless and ongoing war between man's best two animal companions. This one seems to focus on a small group of dogs, charged with a vital mission. Cat ninjas and some obvious cat puppets are arrayed against our heroes (from the preview it seems to be a very pro-dog movie). Lots of laughs and animal antics. This film is due out in July.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Although the preview doesn't really give you too much about the plot (it looks like another bug hunt), the graphics are amazing. While Shrek had amazing computer graphics in terms of the environment (trees, grass, little animals), this has almost lifelike people. This could be a very good movie, although maybe they spent all their money on the fx and neglected paying for a good writer. This movie is coming out in July.

Planet of the Apes. Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg (and who didn't just *love* New Kids on the Block?) and Estella Warren against a lot of people in really good ape costumes. Since this is a remake of a relatively famous movie there is no need for the trailer to go into the plot. US Air Force astronaut crash lands on a planet that's much like Earth, but here the monkeys rule over the humans. He leads a rebellion and there's a big battle. Coming out in July.

American Pie 2. I did finally see American Pie on cable and it was ok. Looks like this movie brings back at least most of the old actors reprising their roles and it continues from the last movie. Everybody is in college and Jim is nervous about Nadia's visit. He isn't very experienced in bed and so he goes to the most experienced person he knows: Michelle and her band camp sex addicts. Another ok movie coming out in August.

The Princess Diaries. Coming out in August, this is a local-geeky-kid-is- really-royalty-and-look-at-all-the-fun-as-she-tries-to-become-cultured movie. It looks like a nice family movie and hopefully I didn't just see all of the funny parts in the preview. A Garry Marshall film and is it just me or are Hector Elizondo and Tom Hines in all of his movies?

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